Plate 68 from ‘The Disasters of War’ (Los Desastres de la Guerra): ‘What madness!.’ (Que locura!)

Description

In What Madness, Francisco Goya seats a friar-like figure with a dish and spoon among religious objects and masks. Images and tokens cluster on one side while distorted faces lie on the other, making devotion and disguise visually adjacent. Hooded figures move in the dark background. The seated man’s absorption in his meal contrasts with the strange accumulation surrounding him.

Plate 68 of The Disasters of War belongs to the series’ late satirical allegories. Goya links ordinary appetite to the manipulation of appearances, suggesting that outward professions of belief may conceal personal advantage. The precise meaning of each object remains open, but their pairing gives the scene a sharp internal logic. Carefully drawn foreground forms and deep tonal shadow turn a simple act of eating into an uneasy examination of credulity and self-interest.

Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Goya collection.